Cisco ChengASUS EeePC 1002HAIts metallic finish makes the ASUS EeePC 1002HA the most attractive netbook to date, and its performance doesn't disappoint. However, this netbook could use some help in the features department.

Gunmetal is a welcome look in a netbook. Overclocking software is included. The 92 percent keyboard is on a par with the Wind's. Achieved excellent battery life on a two-cell lithium polymer. Bright 10-inch widescreen. Under $500.

Cons

Lacks a six-cell battery. Could use more features.

Bottom Line

Its metallic finish makes the ASUS EeePC 1002HA the most attractive netbook to date, and its performance doesn't disappoint. However, this netbook could use some help in the features department.

The name EeePC doesn't exactly roll off your tongue, but it's the brand most synonymous with oh-so-popular netbooks. The craze for these diminutive laptops all started with the EeePC 4G, which launched about a year ago, and today ASUS has the most netbook variantsat least nine. The ASUS EeePC 1002HA ($500 street) is yet another twist on the pioneer netbook model. At a time when everyone else is going with either white or a colored frame, the 1002HA now sports a more elegant, gunmetal-hued look. And the meager parts that were used for the EeePC 4Gthe 4GB SSD drive and Celeron M processorhave now flowered into a 160GB hard drive and an Intel Atom processor. It's easily one of the top choices for a netbook, although the MSI Wind still has the upper hand.

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As a differentiator, design is always a great place to start. The MSI Wind, the Lenovo IdeaPad S10, and the Acer Aspire One have shiny white frames, which at first looked trendy and were surefire hits on campus, but by now have lost their luster. Adding a blue tint like on the Samsung NC10 or an embedded pattern like on the HP Mini 1000 is a nice touch, but brushed metal is so much better. The HP 2133 Mini-Note, one of the original netbooks, had the right idea with its anodized aluminum frame. Meanwhile, ASUS was carefully taking notes: The EeePC 1002HA's gunmetal-gray exterior is metallic and feels absolutely fabulousa refined look that doesn't reflect its price point. It isn't too flashy for serious small businesses, yet is not overly conservative for students either.

Its 2.7-pound frame is as heavy as the Lenovo S10's and a smidgeon heavier than the MSI Wind's. Netbooks like the Acer Aspire One (2.1 pounds), the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 (2.3 pounds), and the ASUS EeePC 900 (2.2 pounds) are noticeably lighter because they have smaller screens. Since the EeePC 900's screen was felt to be too small, the 1002HA's 10-inch screen is essentially a correction. It's as big and as bright as the S10's, the Wind's, and the HP 1000's, and it carries the same 1,024-by-600 resolution. The 1002HA's dimensions10.3 by 7.3 by 1.1 inchesare slightly larger and thicker than those of the Mini 1000 (10.3 by 6.6 by 0.9 inches) and the Lenovo S10 (9.8 by 7.3 by 0.9 inches).

The typing experience is one of the things I'm most concerned about in netbooks. The 1002HA's 92 percent keyboard is respectable, being as large as the ones on the Wind and the Mini 1000. (You still won't find a netbook with a full-size keyboard.) Users migrating from bigger laptops with full-size keyboards will find it cramped at first, but typing gets easier with practice. The placement of the mouse buttons is important, too. The Mini 1000 and the Acer One have them on each side of the touchpad, which translates into an awkward navigating experience. ASUS did the right thing by putting the 1002HA's below the touchpad, though they were a little resistant when pressed.

Feature-wise, there's nothing to set the 1002HA apart from other netbooks, and it could use a little something more. It has the essentials, like the three USB ports, VGA-out, a 4-in-1 media card reader, an Ethernet port, and a webcam. When the S10 and the Wind were launched, incorporating a 160Gb hard drive was considered an impressive feat; by now, in the 1002HA, it's par for the course. Meanwhile, the Lenovo S10 has an ExpressCard 34 slot that enables expansion devices such as a WWAN (3G) cellular card, for instance. Both the Dell Mini 9 and the HP 1000 even have these 3G devices built-in so you can surf the Web anytime, wherever there's a cell phone signal. With the 1002HA, you at least have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0.

It gets more interesting with performance. Although the 1.6-GHz Intel Atom N270, the 1GB of memory, and Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics are typical netbook fare, the 1002HA spiced things up with software. The 1002HA's Super Hybrid Engine application essentially makes the netbook's CPU overclockable. By using a button above the keyboard, you can switch the software between several modesSuper Performance, High Performance, Power Saving, and Autowhich control the speed of the CPU. Before you get too excited, the improvements are marginal; they're not likely to turn your 1002HA into a video-editing or a gaming laptop. However, video-encoding tests did improve slightly, by 12 seconds (roughly 5 percent), after switching from Auto to the Super Performance setting. All of my other tests were done using the Auto setting.

On SYSmark Overall 2007, the 1002HA scored exactly the same as the Lenovo IdeaPad S10, whereas the MSI Wind had a one-point edge on this test. Adobe Photoshop tests couldn't be run because of resolution constraints; nor could CineBench R10 because it required a dual-core processor. Relative to other netbooks, the 1002HA did extremely well on battery life. By using a high-capacity, two-cell lithium polymer battery rather than a lithium ion, ASUS was able to keep the 1002HA's svelte design. The battery's 31-Wh rating, one of the largest for netbook-class ultraportables, enabled it to score 3 hours 29 minutes on MobileMark 2007. Using three-cell batteries, both the S10 and the Wind trailed the 1002HA by almost an hour. It would've been more impressive had ASUS offered a six-cell battery option, which is another thing lacking in the 1002HA's feature set. That said, both the Acer One and the MSI Wind offer six-cell lithium ion batteries.

The one area in which the ASUS EeePC 1002HA could use some improvement is features. Otherwise, its overclockable CPU can be faster than those of other netbooks; its standard battery took the longest time to drain, and the gunmetal finish is by far the most attractive design to date. You're paying about $20 more for the metallic look, but knowing ASUS and the way EeePCs pop out of its factories, that price should come down in a couple of weeks.

ASUS EeePC 1002HA

excellent

Bottom Line: Its metallic finish makes the ASUS EeePC 1002HA the most attractive netbook to date, and its performance doesn't disappoint. However, this netbook could use some help in the features department.

ASUS EeePC 1002HA

ASUS EeePC 1002HA

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